Windows 11 features a virtual touch keyboard designed primarily for tablets and 2-in-1 touchscreen laptops. However, if you are using a standard desktop PC with a physical mouse and a drawing tablet (like a Wacom), or if Windows simply misidentifies your hardware, the giant touch keyboard may automatically pop up and consume the bottom half of your screen every time you click inside a text box.
This aggressive auto-appearance is incredibly frustrating when you have a physical, mechanical keyboard sitting right in front of you. You can completely disable this automatic trigger to ensure the virtual keyboard only appears when you explicitly ask for it.
How to Stop the Touch Keyboard from Popping Up
You can turn off this automated behaviour directly in the Windows 11 Settings app.
- Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press Windows Key + I).
- In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Time & language.
- In the main window, click on Typing.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the section labelled Touch keyboard to expand its options.
- Look for the setting labelled Show the touch keyboard when there’s no keyboard attached.
- Click the drop-down menu next to this setting.
- Select Never from the list.
The change takes effect immediately. The next time you click inside the Google Chrome search bar or a Microsoft Word document, the massive touch keyboard will remain hidden, allowing you to use your physical keyboard uninterrupted.
Note: If you ever actually need the touch keyboard on a desktop PC, you can manually launch it at any time by pressing Windows Key + R, typing osk, and pressing Enter to open the On-Screen Keyboard tool.